Clorox Sustainability Report: GHG Intensity Down 10% in One Year

Clorox last year cut its scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emission intensity by 10 percent compared with the year before, putting it halfway towards its goal of a 20 percent cut by 2020, according to its 2013 integrated annual report and associated materials.

Last year, the company emitted 1,060 metric tons of CO2e per million cases of product sold, down from 1,190 metric tons in 2011. On an absolute basis, emissions of each scope fell.

The company counts scope 1 and 2 emissions from stationary fuel combustion, refrigerants, mobile fuel consumption, and indirect electricity in the US. Its scope 3 emissions include domestic product distribution and global employee business travel.

The company also achieved a 10 percent cut in US, scopes 1 and 2 energy intensity from 2011 to 2012, halfway to a goal of 20 percent by 2020. (Unfortunately, the company forgot to indicate what the units are for its energy intensity measurements.) Like its figures for GHG, water and waste intensity, the company measures energy intensity per case of product sold.

Among its major GHG-reduction accomplishments, Clorox lists the retrofitting of all of its North American manufacturing and distribution facilities with energy efficient T5/T8 lighting, and the use of energy audits. (More on this under Energy.)

Clorox says it increased the efficiency of its finished product distribution markedly by moving from truck to rail. Today, 30 percent of Clorox finished goods distribution miles are by rail. It has also conducted network reconfiguration and optimization of shipments between plants, co-packers, DCs and customers.

The company says it recently reduced business travel by 20 percent – it did not give a timeframe for this reduction – and has converted company cars to Toyota Prius hybrids, which reduced fuel use by almost half and cut annual GHG emissions by about 700 metric tons.

Beyond the greenhouse gases whose reduction is discussed above, Clorox actually generates more than 60 percent of its greenhouse gases from biogenic sources, associated with the use of wood scrap as an energy source in its Kingsford charcoal manufacturing operations. These biogenic emissions totaled 927,000 metric tons of CO2e in 2012. These emissions are considered part of the natural carbon cycle and are excluded from reportable carbon footprint calculations, Clorox says.